Pretending to Love
by BlackRoseDragonCK
Summary: One-shot Axel/Roxas/Xion Valentines Day story. Until they have hearts they can always pretend. Of course...even without hearts...Axel knew that it wasn't just pretend. Friendship, no shipping, NO yaoi.


**I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS**

**Happy Valentine's Day :D! Barely made it in time to post this XD. I read in one of the secret journal entries that Xion says she loved Axel and Roxas. It made me wonder how she found out about love…and thus this fic was born :D! There is no shipping, JUST platonic love. Please enjoy :3!**

**X**

This world was what Axel could only childishly describe as the "best thing ever". He was strolling through a cheery, sunbathed city, much like Twilight Town. Everyone was in a pleasant mood and no one bothered him. Lined along the streets were plush couches and large, comfy beds just waiting to be slept in. To make things ever better…there were Moogles fluttering at every turn, handing out free Sea-Salt ice cream.

A pleasant breeze danced through Number VIII's flame-colored hair. Grinning, he accepted an offered ice cream bar and collapsed onto the cushiest, warmest mattress available.

"Aaaah I could get used to this…" the redhead sighed happily.

He folded one arm behind his head, using his free hand to dangle his melting ice cream over his gaping mouth. The cold cream dripped enticingly onto his face. Right as Axel was lowering the treat to his eagerly-awaiting tongue, however…something strange happened.

One of the Moogles…leapt on top of him. The tiny creature was light but its bulbous red pompom swung and knocked the ice cream from his hand.

"Hey!" Axel frowned at the cream-colored being sprawled on his chest. He started to push it off…and another one jumped onto him.

Axel frowned. This was getting weird. He moved to get up and a third Moogle clamped onto his spiky head. He yelped, striving to disentangle the thing, only to have a fourth grab his arm. The creatures kept piling on, their combined weight growing heavier and heavier by the second. Soon, the redhead couldn't even move. The burden atop him was uncomfortably heavy.

Eventually, there was so many Moogles that their victim was in pain and could hardly breathe. He groaned, feeling that dreamlike panic that always seemed ludicrous when the dreamer awoke. Now, however…it felt very real.

A final creature grabbed his face…and Axel woke, screaming. "GHAAAAH I DON'T WANNA BE SQUASHED BY MOOGLES!"

The pyro's jade eyes flew open, expecting to see white bodies suffocating him from all angles. When he focused…he saw that he was indeed surrounded by pallid shades…but they were the cold metal walls of his bedroom. He glanced around, his lanky body heaving with gradually calming breaths. It was all right…he was alive. He wasn't about to be smothered by Moogles…though, in retrospect, that would have been a rather cool way to go out.

While the eminent threat of chibi-creature death had been removed…Axel noticed that the weight was still there. Rubbing his bleary eyes, he looked down at the foot of his bed. Three pairs of eyes stared back at him: two curious sapphire and one cheery obsidian. The owners of the eyes…were none other than Roxas, Xion, and their dog Pluto. All three of them were sitting on top of him.

Axel blinked. He felt his face heat upon recalling his sleep-induced exclamation. _"Oh, please tell me they didn't hear…"_

"Moogles?" Roxas inquired, raising his honey-colored brows perplexedly.

Axel groaned and flopped down on his back. There went another shred of his dignity. He was about to roll over, bury his face in the pillow, and pretend that none of this had happened when he realized that his legs had fallen asleep. He couldn't move either, due to the three figures sitting on him as if he were a black and red sofa.

"Uh, guys?" Axel said, propping himself up on his elbows. "You think you could move over? I kinda can't feel my legs."

Roxas shrugged nonchalantly, as if crushing his mentor was a normal occurrence, and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Xion crawled across the white sheets to sit next to their elder friend. Pluto moved along with her, his tale thumping on the mattress. Giggling, the raven-haired girl scratched his golden head. All four beings were silent for quite some time.

Axel's eyes flicked back and forth among each of his visitors. He wasn't exactly sure how to approach this. It wasn't every day that he had a stupid nightmare about being killed by Moogles, only to wake up and find his companions clambering around on him instead.

Finally, he decided to take the blunt route. "What the heck are you kids doing?"

His words seemed to spark a remembrance of their original reason for waking him. Roxas's face lit up and Xion grabbed Axel's arm, bouncing up and down on the bed.

"Axel! You'll never guess what's happening today!"

He blinked groggily at them but did not reply. Roxas frowned slightly. "Aren't you going to guess?"

Yawning, Number VIII replied, "Roxas, I've had no caffeine whatsoever and was woken up so abruptly that I'm still not sure whether I'm awake or still dreaming. What do you expect me to guess?"

"I don't know…" the boy pouted slightly. "…maybe that Demyx finally filed all his reports on time or something?"

Axel smirked. "If THAT were the case, you would have run in screaming something about a miracle. Just tell me."

"Fine…" Roxas sighed. He then glanced at Xion. A look of excitement passed between both Keyblade Wielders, making them look as if they would both explode into sunshine. In unison, they shouted, "Today is Valentine's Day!"

For awhile, Axel could only stare blankly. Both youths beamed at him expectantly. Pluto's tale wagged, contented with the entire situation. Seriously? They had torn him from his beloved sleep…for this?

Propping his back against the bed's headrest, the pyro asked in disbelief, "That's it…?"

Always clueless, Roxas nodded gleefully. Xion, on the other hand, noticed their friend's lack of excitement. She tilted her head, looking confused. "What's wrong? Do you not like Valentine's Day?"

Axel looked at her. Immediately, he wished he had not. Her large blue puppy dog eyes searched his face, glimmering with a light of hope that would be quickly drowned by crushing disappointment if he gave the wrong answer. One of those odd resemblances of guilt that had visited him ever since he met the kids ricocheted throughout the redhead's core. He just couldn't bring himself to say, "I don't care."

"It's not that," Axel responded, rubbing his eyes and trying to look more awake and interested. "It's just that…we don't typically get to celebrate that holiday in Organization XIII."

To his relief, Xion instantly brightened. "Oh! Well, Xigbar told us about it this morning. He said it's a holiday that celebrates 'love'. We didn't know what 'love' was and he said we should ask you."

Axel felt himself go pale.

"Xigbar kept snickering while he was talking to us," Roxas added, frowning thoughtfully. "I dont know why. I remember you told me a little bit about love…but I didn't really understand."

The paleness was replaced by a flush as crimson as the pyro's hair. His teeth gritted and he made a mental note to set fire to the Freeshooter's stash of extra eye patches as revenge. He already got himself into enough awkward situations with these two. He didn't need Xigbar adding to that.

Xion looked a bit hurt. "You guys never told me anything about love…"

Roxas peered at Axel with suspicion. "You didn't seem to like explaining it to me either. In fact, no one seems to like talking about it."

Xion's eyes widened with horror. "Is love…bad?"

Axel was looking back and forth between his two interrogators so rapidly that he almost made himself dizzy. He suddenly wished that those nightmarish Moogles had managed to suffocate him. It would have saved him the agony of this impending discomfort.

Finally, the redhead sighed, kneading the tattoos beneath his eyes. He placed a reassuring hand on Xion's shoulder. "No, love is not a bad thing," he met Roxas's gaze, adding, "The reason people don't like defining it is because it's…complicated."

"Complicated?" Roxas shook his head in disbelief. "How? Love is an emotion, right? Like happiness or sadness? I get those….why can't I understand love?"

Axel sighed, running his fingers through his messier-than-usual hair. He half-wished he was closer to the edge of the bed so that he could clamp a hand over Number XIII's mouth. The onslaught of questions was only serving to make the caffeine-deprived gears of his brain even rustier.

Inching closer to him, Pluto laid his bony head on Axel's lap. His gentle eyes peered up at the man, as if encouraging him to go on. Scratching the dog's black ears, Axel carefully considered his answer.

"I guess you could say that there are…different kinds of love."

Xion cocked her head cutely. "Like different flavors of ice cream?"

Number VIII laughed at that. "That's a pretty good comparison, actually. The first 'flavor' is pretty common. You see it between siblings, parents and their kids, even friends. The easier definition for it, I'd say, is to care deeply for someone."

Roxas tilted his head ponderingly. Xion's eyes sparkled. She clutched handfuls of the white sheet in excitement. "So…does that mean that the three of us could feel love?" she inquired.

Axel cleared his throat uncomfortably. He ran a hand over his hair, his usual embarrassed tick. Mushy stuff like this always made him fidgety…but he couldn't deny her an answer. "Maybe…if we had hearts."

Number XIV's burst of glee faded a little. Axel tugged at his locks again, feeling sorry that he had given such a Saix-like response. Fortunately, or, perhaps unfortunately for him…Roxas spoke up.

"What's the second kind of love then?"

If Axel had possessed a heart, it would have been hammering with stress. Never in a million years had he conceived that, one day, he would be explaining such a concept to a pair of bright and somewhat clueless children.

"Uh…well, the second type people refer to as…romantic love," he chewed his bottom lip, feeling the fire within his core rush to his face. "Get it memorized so I don't have to tell you again."

"Ro…romantic love?" Xion tasted the new word curiously. "What's that?"

"Well…it's a type of love that can only exist between two people," Axel said slowly, not exactly sure where he was going with this. "It's…it's uh…it's where you…uh…"

Number XIII turned to face his mentor more fully. His blue eyes narrowed. "Axel, your face is all red…and you're talking funny."

"Are you all right?" Xion removed her glove and worriedly placed her hand against his forehead. "Maybe you're sick or something…"

Axel glared at Roxas a little. Why did he always insist on pointing out every embarrassing detail the redhead tried so hard to keep hidden?

"What?" the blonde asked obliviously.

He sighed. "I'm not sick, you two. I'm having trouble speaking because…I'm not quite sure what romantic love is myself."

They both stared at him for a long moment. Even Pluto looked at him, as if surprised.

"Really…?" Roxas murmured softly. "But…I thought you knew everything."

Axel gave a small smile. He shook his head, saying, "I'm afraid not, kiddo. This type of love…it's something that you can't really explain unless you've felt it firsthand. I haven't."

"Have you ever met anyone who has?" Xion asked.

"I've seen a few here in there. From all the sappy stories I've heard, love is something that is stronger and more magical than any other feeling. It's something special between the two people who experience it. I've heard some call it…giving your heart to someone."

Roxas's hand went involuntarily to his chest, as if he had a heart that could be stolen. "That sounds painful," he remarked, cringing.

Xion, on the other hand, looked off into the distance with a dreamy expression. Her fingers unconsciously stroked Pluto's fur. "I think it sounds beautiful…"

Axel couldn't help smirking at the diverse reactions. "In any case, none of us will get to feel it any time soon. You have to have a heart to feel love…and even when you have one, it usually takes awhile for love to develop."

The dark-haired girl's shoulders slumped. She sighed sadly and laid her head beside Pluto's on Axel's lap. "I'd be happy with either kind of love…" she murmured. "…it sounds…amazing."

Roxas cast his eyes downward at her words. Axel toyed with a strand of Xion's hair, frowning slightly. He hadn't really given much thought to such an idea. Now that he had…it made him discontented to see his friends so disappointed. It almost gave him the illusion of sorrow to think that they had missed out on so many common human interactions.

Then, the redhead brightened a bit. He glanced at Roxas, then at the girl on his lap, a sly smile playing on his lips. "Well…as far as the first type of love goes…you can always pretend."

"Huh?"

Xion's head shot up and Roxas's whipped around to gawk at him. Axel's grin widened. "Every day we pretend to be happy, don't we? We already act as though we care about each other. You can just as easily pretend to love each other."

The two Keyblade wielders shared a bewildered look. Axel could practically see the gears of their minds turning. Then…their young faces gradually twisted into wide smiles. Pluto gave a happy bark, his tail wagging at seeing two of his owners so eager.

"Maybe…it IS possible," the blonde tentatively commented.

Xion laughed. She wrapped an arm around Roxa's neck, pulling him closer to her. Throwing her other arm around Axel's torso, she tightly hugged both of them. Axel had to brace his hand on the mattress to keep from falling over with them on top of him yet again.

"I love you both!" the girl cried, beaming.

Roxas's face turned as red as a ruby. He nodded, too self-conscious to verbalize his agreement. Axel threw his head back, laughing. It was nice to see the Key of Destiny embarrassed for once.

Then, Xion peered up at him. Her face almost seemed to glow. "What about you, Axel? Do you love us?"

The Flurry of Dancing Flames instantly ceased chuckling. He wasn't sure there was a way to respond to that question without completely abolishing his dignity. Looking back and forth between those innocent, puppy dog eye-inhabited faces, however…he suddenly realized that he did not care. Even so…he wasn't the type to just come out and say such things.

"I dunno," Axel smiled, affectionately ruffling first the girl's hair, then Roxas's. "I'd have to think about it…but I'm pretty sure I would if I could."

The answer seemed to satisfy them both. Axel, however, knew it was a lie. If he were human…if he had a heart…there was no doubt in his mind that he would love these two.

**X**

**FLUFFY XDDDD! Again, I am talking platonic love haha. I hope you liked and please review :D! Please no flames.**

**I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS**


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